BEIJING (AP)

China's fight against doping ahead of the Olympics is paying off, with the country seeing its lowest positive test rate over last year, a senior sports official was quoted as saying yesterday.

There were just 15 positive cases in 2007 from a record-high of 10,238 tests, Liu Peng, head of the State General Administration of Sports, was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.

"The positive rate is less than 0.2 per cent, which stands as a new low since China started to conduct doping tests,'' Liu was quoted as telling a meeting of provincial sports bosses.

China started doping tests in 1990 when 165 tests were done, Xinhua said.

As host of the 2008 Summer Games, which start August 8, China is eager to avoid the embarrassment of one of its athletes being caught doping.

The Chinese government has launched a crackdown on doping in the country, which is a source of illegal steroids sold worldwide. In November, China opened its first anti-doping agency and a state-of-the-art laboratory.

"We always take a zero-tolerance stand toward doping cheats and will try our best to make sure that we send a clean Chinese squad to the Beijing Olympic Games,'' Liu said.

15 positive tests

Xinhua said one area of concern for China sports officials was weightlifting. Seven of the 15 positive tests last year were in weightlifting.

Meanwhile, a Chinese long distance runner who recently returned from a two-year doping suspension said in an interview published yesterday she still hoped to qualify for the Olympics.

Sun Yingjie placed 10th at the Xiamen International Marathon on Saturday in southern China, her first race since failing a urine test for the testosterone derivative androsterone at the Chinese National Games in 2005.

Sun told the China Youth Daily that she is ineligible for the marathon event at the Olympics because she has competed in only one of five qualifying races. But she hoped to qualify for the 5,000 or 10,000 metres race.

"I definitely will try my best to reach the qualifying standards. Now I need to slowly regain my form. If I can get back to my best form, I think I still have a chance to run in the Olympics,'' she was quoted as saying.